Kazakhstan is located in the wind belt of the Northern Hemisphere. The Dzungarian Gates and Shelek Corridor (near Almaty) have as much wind power as any other location in the world and are currently being considered for development with financial support from the United Nations Development Program and the Global Environment Facility. This is in direct response to the needs of the city, where power cuts occur. Kazakhstan annually produces over 76 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity and is now experiencing shortages. New power-plant investments are needed. Compared with new plant construction in other forms of energy, wind power can be financially viable. Needs in the open steppe region require smaller wind turbines that will provide adequate electricity for independent villages, while larger wind turbines are needed for Kazakhstan's rapidly developing cities. Wind power is immune to increases in the price of costly fuels such as oil, gas, coal and uranium used to run the world's existing power plants. Conditions for using solar energy are very favorable in almost all of Kazkahstan's territory, but solar technology is essentially not used. The number of sunny days equals 2,000 to 3,000 hours per year. This translates into an average of about 1,550 kWh/ m2/year of solar radiation energy. Outside of Kazakhstan's cities, the country is characterized by desert or semidesert conditions and low population density. Therefore, current electrical supply methods are not necessarily efficient. The use of newly developed individual thin-film solar-energy panels in these regions is projected to be a cheaper and more effective alternative. Diversifying Kazakhstan's energy resources, especially given the favorable availability of wind and sun as well as the country's huge need for energy, makes good sense. Harnessing wind and sun power reduces the comparatively severe environmental impacts of using other fuels. Different levels of investment are required for each method, but both may benefit from subsidy support. Some locations may benefit from the use of both methods.